I am fortunate enough to live, walk, and breathe among the bravest of heroes. I am a proud Army wife.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Bert Brady

Back in the fall when Marlie and I were flying from Atlanta to Dallas we were standing in line waiting to get checked in. We were near the large open area and food court. All of a sudden people were clapping and starting to stand up. I walked closer to see what was going on and a large number of soldiers were walking toward the USO. I have seen the tv commercial like that but never experienced it in real life. It was wonderful and so touching to see people truly appreciating our servicemembers.My aunt forwarded me this video a few days ago. Of course I loved it. I think people like this are the greatest. I also copied and pasted the article from the ABC News website.

Just about every morning for the past year, Bert Brady has been getting up, having a cup of coffee and heading over to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. But this ritual has nothing to do with travel. He's at the terminal to welcome home American troops as they return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I went 300 days last year," Brady said. "They are glad to see us, and we are tickled to death to see them because they are our heroes."

Brady, a 69-year-old veteran, is a member of the Welcome Home a Hero program at his local airport. He makes sure every soldier that comes through Dallas gets a special homecoming.

And he has reached out to almost anyone who will join him.

"We have people who only come on weekends. We have people who come during the week," Brady said. "We have a lot of support from the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts."

Veterans Stick TogetherBrady shows up each day with the goal of making soldiers feel appreciated and proud of their service. He's often joined by veterans of the Vietnam and Korean wars who did not get a warm reception when they returned from battle.

"We are not going to forget them like a lot of Vietnam soldiers have been forgotten," Brady said. "We are not going to forget the soldiers of today."

One Korean War vet working with Brady added, "We owe it to them. They're doing a good job for us. When I came home in 1954, there was nobody, no nothing."

And for Brady, it's simply "rewarding" to greet the soldiers.

"You can't make 200 people happy and not feel that. Ninety-five percent of them are smiling, and you never can tell if one of their buddies has just died in their arms yesterday," he said. "So you get all kinds of emotion coming through."

And the soldiers appreciate the efforts. "It's great. … They took the time out of their day to be here," one soldier said.

"It's incredible to see the support," said one soldier's wife, who was in tears. "Everybody cheering him on … it's a little embarrassing, but we appreciate it."

When asked why he is so dedicated to this effort, Brady pointed to a moment he shared with one soldier.

"He said, 'Mister, I will never forget you,' and my heart was almost pounding like it was going to burst out of my chest," Brady said. "He said, 'It's the greatest thing that ever happened to me.'"

1 comment:

thanks for posting this Cristin. I also saw the TV commercial by anheiser bush and I already cry just longing for our time. I'm just at that tuff point right now where we are almost half way but it feels like it has been so long. oh well, what can we do but make the best of it!